Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/482

Rh 450 COSTA KICA N.E., the Rio Frio, San Carlos, Sarapiqui, and Colorado, aro tributaries of the boundary river San Juan, the outlet of Lake Nicaragua; the others of this slope from N. to S., the Reventazon, Pacuar, Chirip6 or Matini, Sixaula or Estrella, Changuenola, and Chiriqui, flow independently to the Atlantic lagoons. On the Pacific side from N. to S. the chief rivers are the Tempisque and Las Piedras, flowing to the head of the Gulf of Nicoya ; the Bio Grande, from the high borders of the plateau of San Jose ; the Rio de Pirns, Naranjo, and Rio Grande de Terraba. In contrast to the south-western descent, the Atlantic slope is covered with dense impenetrable forest, and has remained almost closed to traffic and civilization from the earliest times of colonization. Indians still living in a savage state occupy some portions of this wild forest country. The former tribes of the Reventazon and Pacuar have been completely exterminated ; those remaining are the Pranzos or Guatusos Indians of the valley of the Rio Frio in the north, the Bizeita tribe on the Sixaula River, and the Terrbis on the Changuenola, in the south-east, sometimes collectively called the Talamanca Indians. The latter tribes have remained in hostility to each other since the discovery of the country ; they are perfectly uncivilized, hunters with bow and arrow, and independent of the Government ; they trade a little with adventurers from Jamaica, bartering sarsaparilla, hides, and turtle-shells for arms and powder, cotton stuffs, and tobacco. The Mosquito Indians come annually in canoes to the Atlantic coast in May and June to fish for turtle in the Lagoon of Chiriqui. The Pacific slope, on the other hand, is char acterized by wide savannahs or llanuras, bordered by forest, and is much more accessible. The climate varies with the elevation, from the tropical heat of the coast, which is often fever-stricken, to the tem perate and healthy air of the plateau and the cold of the mountain heights. In the plateau of San Jos6 the north east trade wind, prevailing from October to April, brings dry weather; from April to October the south-west mon soon, blowing up from the Pacific, brings almost daily rain, excepting within a remarkable period of about a fortnight of dry weather in June, called the &quot; Veranillo de San Juan.&quot; The rainfall at San Jose&quot; (3872 feet above the sea) averages from 40 to 60 inches annually ; the average temperature here is about 68 Fahr., rising to 76 in the hottest month of summer and falling to 55 Fahr. in the coldest. The country is subject to earthquakes ; a very severe one occurring in 1841 destroyed the town of Cartago. Costa Rica is exceedingly fertile, its forests being filled with an immense variety of timber trees and useful dye woods, such as mahogany, ebony, Indian-rubber, Brazil wood, and oak ; almost all the fruits of the tropical and temperate zones are found to thrive, and flowering plants are in rich profusion. Coffee is the staple cultivated pro duct of the country, and is grown chiefly on the plateau lands of San Jose and Cartago, the special adaptability of these to the growth of this plant being attributed to the nature of the soil, which consists of layers of black or dark brown volcanic ash of from 1 to 6 yards in depth. Rice, maize, barley, potatoes, beans, bananas, and yucca are aluo cultivated to some extent in the interior; cocoa, vanilla, sugar-cane, tobacco, cotton, and indigo, on the warm coast lands, but as yet only for home consumption. About 1 150 square milea of the country are under cultivation. In the forests the wild animals of Central America the tapir, jaguar, ocelot, puma, deer, and wild pigs are numerous ; a multitude of birds, including the humming bird and the splendid quetzal or trogon, fill the woods; the reptiles include the alligator of the rivers, the iguana, and many other lizards, the boba, tuboba, black snake, rattle snake, and corale. Among domestic animals oxen and mules are the most valuable, almost all the traffic of the country being carried on by means of ox-waggons. As yet the chief highway of Costa Rica is the waggon road from Punta Arenas on the Gulf of Nicoya virtually the only port of the country, to the capital San Jos6, and thence to Cartago on the central plateau. Mule tracks lead north-westwards from Punta Arenas through the province of Guanacaste to Nicaragua, from San Jos north-east by the valley of the Sarapiqui to Grey Town on the Atlantic, from Cartago eastwards to Puerto Limon also on the Atlantic, and southward over the western spurs of the Montana Dota to the plains of Terraba. A railroad from Alajuela to the capital and through Cartago to Puerto Limon, part of a proposed inter-oceanic highway, was begun in 1871, and in December 1873 the portion between Alajuela and Cartago, 42 miles, had been completed. Owing to financial difficulties, however, the work ceased in 1874, and only sufficient hands were employed to keep the part finished in working order. Two hundred miles of telegraph line had been completed in 1875. There are no manufacturing industries in Costa Rica. The country is rich in minerals gold, silver, copper, iron, nickel, zinc, lead, marble but up to the present time gold, silver, and copper are the only ores that have been worked. The principal gold mines are (1) those of Trinidad, 4 leagues inland from Punta ArenaSj 1 200 feet above the sea, worked on a small scale by a Costa Rican company, the quartz yields gold of a fineness of about 17 J carats; and (2) the mines of the Cerro del Aguacate, one of which is worked by the native &quot; Compania de la Montana del Aguacate,&quot; also in an imperfect manner, but with good results. Another called the &quot; Sacra Familia,&quot; lies a little north of the Aguacate mine, at an elevation of 3000 feet above the sea ; it has two chief veins, one containing galena and zinc blend, with silver, and grey copper ore also yield ing silver, and a second, with a lode of gold quartz similar to that of Trinidad. This mine is also worked on a small scale by private individuals, and gives gold of about 15J- carats fine. Gold is said also to exist in the wild Indian country of the Atlantic slope, but the position of the sup posed mines is uncertain. Costa Rica is divided into six provinces, in which population is distributed as follows according to estimate of M. Belly : San Jose, 45,000 Cartago, 36,000 Heredia, 30,000 Alajuela, 29,000 Guanacaste, 8,000 Punta Arenas, 6,000 The government is vested in a president elected for four years, and a first and second vice-president, aided by four ministers and the national congress of deputies also elected for four years. The present constitution, the seventh which has been in force in the republic, dates from 1871, All men between the ages of eighteen and thirty form the militia of the republic, and in 1874 numbered 16,380, 900 being employed in active service. All men between the ages of thirty and fifty-five years form a reserve. The religion of the state is Roman Catholic, but full liberty for the public exercise of all religions is granted by the con stitution. The revenue of the republic, derived from customs, monopolies of spirits and tobacco, from the national bank, Bales of land, and various taxes, chiefly that on&quot;the exportation of coffee, amounted in 1875 to 517,605;the expenditure in the same year was 55 6, 221, showing a deficit of 38,616. In 1871 the Government contracted in London a loan of 1,000,000, and in 1872 another of 2,400,000 for the construction of an inter-oceanic railway. In 1875 tho external debt from this source was 2,401,300. Of this the the Capital San Jose, Cartago, Heredia, Alajuela, Liberia, 15,000 10,000 9,000 6,000 2,000 Punta Arenas, 1,800